Where were you?

“I’m so sick of hearing about the end of the world!” I loudly exclaimed this past Saturday, while I closed my wallet and got shushed by Julia. “Well…I am.” I insisted, much quieter.

“Well, now you know how some people felt about the royal wedding.” Julia responded.

Did she just say that?

“The royal wedding is completely different. It was a happy time, not one filled with speculation, mathematical equations and religious beliefs.” Julia thoughtfully cocked her head to one side and nodded, as if to say she saw my point. Then, she said, “The royal wedding coverage was a little ridiculous, though.”

Compromise.

The biggest reason why the whole ‘some Family Radio group thinks the end of the world will happen that day at 6 p.m.’ thing had me so annoyed — was that somewhere deep down inside, I was scared. I knew it was silly to believe and give even the teensiest amount of credibility to, but a “what if?” creeped in…giving me heart palpitations. I blame my wild imagination.

And, it also didn’t help that it was alllll over Facebook, Twitter and even the news — a media outlet I trust. I guess the gullible part of me thought if the news is seriously covering it…eek. But, then I would remind myself of what I truly believed and a calmness would come over me.

The day continued as normal, with me making Rapture jokes like crazy (a total defense/comfort mechanism) — getting some laughs and some “What’re you talking about?” responses. I was astonished to know that a fair amount of people seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. Did they live under a rock? Maybe I thought this was a bigger topic/deal than it really was. Again, the calmness would wash over me.

I bid Julia adieu, picked up my dry cleaning and met my mom for dinner before we did some light shopping. With our meals served, I made a couple Rapture references — noting the time was 5:30. My mom rolled her eyes and seeing the slight concern and overactive imagination before her, simply said, “Nothing and no one controls your fate besides what you believe in.” I nodded and laughed, feeling so silly and enjoyed the rest of dinner. Still, I watched the clock.

When 5:55 approached and we were waiting for the bill to come back, my mom said “I’m gonna wait outside, k?” and I came back with, “No, just wait — here she comes” and she laughed again, rolling her eyes, but still obliging. When 5:59 arrived and I signed the credit card slip, she began shaking the table and with a shocked expression, cried, “Ohhhhhh!” and then erupted into hysterical laughter. As did I.

I think a lot of people will remember where they were when the world didn’t end.

I agree with your friend about the Royal wedding but the comparison IS invalid.
I was at dinner with friends, at 6 everyone dissapeared for a fraction of a second. I got freaked out but then realized…heh heh…it was just me blinking.

I was on the MTA heading to Yankee stadium. It was about 6:10 as we were coming in to the station that I realized it had passed. Though there was a man facing his own personal rapture as his wife berated him for taking her to the game because it rained a bit beforehand. I’ll hear “You expect me to sit her for 4 hours” in my head for days, as I wonder why the hell she didn’t think of that before she left the house.

I was out to dinner on Sat.,and this too became the center conversation. I called them a bunch of doomsdayers. The final hour had already past and everyone was happy, especially the person that brought up the topic. Being the Debbie Downer at the table I had to bring up the thought that the dreaded final hour had past on the east coast EST, and maybe the final hour was actual on west coast time. The woman that brought this up got nervous, too funny.

I was not nervous, I was pretty confident nothing was going to happen leading up to 6pm. I made plenty of jokes about it, mostly because when else will the apocolypse be funny?

I was eating dinner with my husband and daughters when the news announced the Iceland volcano erupted causing small earthquakes shortly after 6pm. Then reports rolled in of earthquakes in Hawaii, New Zealand and Indonesia and a landslide in Malaysia. I thought, well, he did get a few things right…

I was at Target shopping and drinking my Starbucks beverage. I thought that would be a perfect way to go out. I called a friend to share my plan and she informed me the “Rapture” was 2 hours earlier. For some reason I thought it was supposed to happen at 8 pm. Very typical of me to be late– even for the end of the world.

i was with about 10 soldiers and their wives drinking cocktails during our military reintigration weekend. We were expecting to be put up at a 4-5 star resort, but what we ended up at was a 2 star in foreclosure, something out of the shining. We all kept saying that if the world was going to end saturday, it was a pretty crappy way to go in the place we were staying!

I was on my back deck eating dinner, under the umbrella because it was sprinking on and off. We’re chatting away, and around 6:00 my 6-year old looked up at the sky and said “Look, Mom! A rainbow!” Sure enough, there was a very faint, but full arc of a rainbow. THAT’s the kind of *sign* I was looking for!

You’re right, there’s a huge difference. On one side, you have a group that is convinced they have a mandate from God that gives them an edge on society and makes them, the select few, better than other Christians and worthy of greater blessings. Then you have the Family Radio crowd.

I was out to dinner with family, laughing when my 5 year old nephew referred to the restaurant we were at as fancy. It may have been the fact we were all eating with our hands, or maybe being surrounded by TV’s that made it fancy for him, or probably that he got to wear a crown during dinner.

I actually did have a moment where I thought it might be the end. I went to Walmart earlier in the day and got a cart that didn’t have anything stuck in the wheels, that went straight, and that didn’t squeak. Then someone told me that Walmart got all new carts.

I remember a few years ago when all you heard about was all the shark attacks that were going on. It seems like the sharks were going crazy and were attacking swimmers and and surfers at an alarming rate all over the world. People were scared to go in the water at beaches all along both coasts because of the “shark attack epidemic”.

Turns out what was really occurring was an epidemic of shark attack reporting. Some level-headed individual had looked into the data and found out that that year had slightly less shark attacks than an average year but every single one was trotted out by the news media as evidence of the ‘shark attack epidemic’. The following year actually had more shark attacks but the media had moved on the next ‘freak out de jour’ by then.

We are very easily influenced by the news media. That scares me more than many other things.

@33 Peter – I agree, that was my point. Same goes for the dead birds and fish at the beginning of the year. If I was Harold Camping though, I sure would have clung to the one coincidence that did occur.

SN: How come people always add an “h” in my name when they can clearly read that there is not one? I can see if I say it out loud, hard to distinguish, but written? *sigh* Peter, don’t take it personal, this happens to me ALOT.

My teenager sons’ friend stopped by and was borderline panic attack at 5:50pm. They got distracted leaving the yardwork to me and didn’t notice the time again a few minutes after 6 when I yelled for them to get helping. My 7 year old was freaked out early in the day asking me what does the world is going to end mean, damn media. I learned that there are 2 other days this year that the world is suppose to end, 10/21 and 12/21. So if you missed Saturday you can catch 10/21 or 12/21.

When the world didn’t end, I was watching Morning Glory. (By the way, good movie if you haven’t seen it. Check it out sometime).

I thought it was kind of funny that an 89-year old could proclaim something silly like that. Apparently, he’s made these proclamations before, and each time, he has been wrong. I guess it’s no surprise that the world didn’t end based on his prediction.

I was having a lovely dinner at Ruby Tuesday’s with my fiance and relaxing after a day of shopping and visiting Lake George It was pretty cool. Although the sheer number of people left made it difficult for any looting to take place. I was bummed by that.